"What time is it?"
Li Mo subconsciously pulled out the phone from his pocket. Fortunately, it wasn't lost.
Along with the phone, he also took out a dim, withered flower.
"My previous consciousness, or rather, my soul, was preserved in the rosemary. If I'm not mistaken, the human-skin ghost occupied my body, went into the Taoist temple for me, and then triggered the certain-death rule, getting killed by the Bizarre Jingwei."
"The Bizarre Jingwei couldn't find my soul, so it judged me as dead and left."
"Using a vengeful ghost as a substitute... a very bold move."
This method was dangerous, a gambler's move.
Because human consciousness has never been able to fight against a ghost's. Once a ghost's consciousness occupies the sea of consciousness, it can basically devour or assimilate all human-related consciousness.
Before the ghost dies in a person's place, the person's consciousness would give out first.
If it weren't for the rosemary, Li Mo might not have been able to withstand the human-skin ghost's invasion.
But one point was very important.
It applied in any situation. Li Mo had once used this clue to deduce the method to pass the third day of the funeral at St. Freya High School—
When the consciousness of a human and a ghost collide, no matter who wins or loses, even if the ghost has an overwhelming advantage and is certain to win in the end, both sides can glimpse each other's memories during the collision.
Even if, due to time constraints, the glimpse is incomplete.
But it is undoubtedly possible.
So... Li Mo recalled Mo's memories with Hua.
"That day, the one who came out of the Mirror Lake was human, and the one who jumped in was a ghost."
"I saw the ghost's memories."
Li Mo was not surprised by this result. Anyone could be corrupted by Bizarre Things, and he was never an exception.
Living in the world, one is bound to be influenced by others. This is unavoidable.
But for a normal person, to completely reflect another's shadow is too strange.
The Mo of the Previous Era was very contradictory. It was only after Nuwa and Fuxi died and he left Hua that he became normal.
Li Mo looked down at his phone. It was 8:40 PM. It wasn't time for the Bizarre Things of this world to revive yet. He still had to wait twenty minutes until the xu hour (7-9 PM) to go to the Mirror Lake and find the real ghost bride.
However, a faint whimper and sob squeezed through the crack of the door. Li Mo heard a girl's cry.
"Saori Tsuruyo's voice."
Hearing Saori Tsuruyo's cry, Li Mo vaguely sensed something. Without hesitation, he walked out of the room and followed the source of the sound.
He stopped at the door of the room closest to the stairs in the corridor. Without any delay, he pushed open the door and walked in calmly.
He asked very directly, "Where is Shigure Kira now?"
"What happened while I was asleep and before I fell asleep? Also, what about the information on the flesh-and-blood ghosts?"
Li Mo quickly asked the two most urgent questions, not caring why Saori Tsuruyo was crying.
"Brother? I... I'm sorry." Saori Tsuruyo immediately wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hand, sniffed, and composed herself.
Saori Tsuruyo, who had just turned sixteen this year, was in a sense extremely fragile. She had only been forcing herself to be strong with that pure belief. When the people she depended on left one by one, her heart finally revealed its truest, and also the weakest side that Li Mo had first seen.
After coming to her senses, Saori Tsuruyo didn't ask Li Mo too many questions, but answered his questions one by one.
"Three days ago, the captain and I used the notebook. The notebook guided the captain to jump into the lake deep in the town. The notebook predicted that at 9:04 tonight, the ghost from the lake will find the captain, and at 9:05, the captain will die..."
"Before you fell asleep, you told us to wait at the Rashomon Gate, and then you went with Changle to see the Immortal Jingwei. In the end, we saw you running frantically towards the Rashomon Gate and being killed by the woman on your shoulder. After she killed you, she left. We escaped because we didn't make eye contact with her. Then we brought your body back to the Jingyue Inn and carried out the plan you gave us."
"We've kept the information on the flesh-and-blood ghosts safe. You can go to the front desk to see it later."
"It's almost time for that ghost to find the captain. Brother, what should we do? If we do nothing, the captain will die, she..."
Before Saori Tsuruyo could finish, Li Mo calmly asked, "What did Shigure Kira get?"
Li Mo didn't even need to ask why they used the notebook.
That lake did indeed hide many things, especially that Bizzare box.
A treasure chest of unknown origin, with nothing inside, but theoretically containing everything that exists, concrete or abstract.
A piece of the past, some memories, parts of rules, a twisted fate...
The person who opens it will get what they need most at the moment, meet the person they most desire to see, and at the same time, will be cursed with bad luck and will not have a good end.
Anyone can open the box, provided they pay with almost all their good luck.
Hua was called a jinx as a child, but that was just childish fun and games. But when she opened the box and released him, she became a real witch, wrapped in misfortune and disaster.
This misfortune and disaster might not befall her directly, but through those close to her, making her future dark and gloomy, shrouded in despair.
If it weren't for the fact that the Previous Era's version of him was an unknown-rule ghost from the beginning, counteracting the curse of misfortune on Hua, he might not have lived for fifty thousand years.
And there was the most twisted Mirror Lake, a mirror that reflected reality, preserving a silent, unique soul, and reversing the reality of identity.
If the one who sank was a real living person, another self would appear inside, a ghost with an equal soul; conversely, if the one who sank was a ghost, a corresponding real living person would appear inside.
Reversing the identities of ghost and human, that was the function of the Mirror Lake.
And whether the one who sank was a fake person or a real person, they would trigger the rule of the Mirror Lake: the Mirror Lake would create a drowned ghost, with a human's survival instinct, to drag the other self to the bottom of the lake in exchange for its own rebirth.
This was most of what Li Mo had glimpsed from Mo's memories.
So the Mirror Lake actually had two killing rules—
One was when one first sank, the drowned ghost that appeared would drag the body. This dragging was difficult to escape without the help of Bizzare powers and was certain death for ordinary people.
After being dragged down by the drowned ghost, the drowned ghost would turn into a pool of lake water and enter the body of the one who sank, reversing the identities of human and ghost.
The second was, as Saori Tsuruyo said, if the first killing rule did not succeed, then the drowned ghost would go ashore and look for the marked target.
Find her, and then repeat the second half of the first rule.
Although strictly speaking, the first was not killing, but reversing identity, swapping the identities of human and ghost.
However, a living person's identity obtained through Bizzare powers was ultimately not a complete human. Being connected to Bizzare Things, one would inevitably be corrupted.
It's just that normal people don't live to be a hundred years old, so naturally, they don't need to consider the corruption on them.
But if one gets some special opportunity to live a long life, this corruption will gradually deepen, and eventually, they will lose their human identity.
Looking at it this way, it seems that after throwing oneself into the Mirror Lake, whether human or ghost, one will eventually become a ghost.
In order to give her true happiness, the Mo of this world obtained a meaningful death.
He resolutely decided to give up his undying body in exchange for a short hundred years of human life.
But Hua was not a fool. Li Mo vaguely remembered that in the ten years before the wedding, Hua had repeated the same words to him many times.
At that time, he had not yet realized that Hua already knew the truth, and simply thought that Hua was just being coquettish or emphasizing her feelings.
That sentence was—
"If I were to die tomorrow, I would want to be with you."
"..."
Li Mo's face showed no change in emotion, whether it was Hua or Shigure Kira.
From the most direct emotional point of view.
Except for Kiana, even if everyone else died, he wouldn't feel any sadness now.
But not feeling sad didn't mean Li Mo was indifferent.
Reason was still online, telling Li Mo that he should go save Shigure Kira.
"..."
"The parasol tree may stand, but its heart is empty. It awaits the spring to bud, but in truth, it was buried in the winter."
"This is what the captain asked me to relay to you. The notebook said that after you hear this, you can completely deal with the Bizarre Thing of this world and let this world return to its normal track..."
"Brother, I know this is selfish, but please save the captain first... She's hiding in the dark alone now... she must be very scared... Although the captain didn't say it, I know, the captain is very scared, and also very afraid of being alone..."
Saori Tsuruyo's voice was weak as she quickly recited the contents of the diary. For this world, an outsider's life was insignificant. If they died, they died.
Moreover, dealing with Bizarre Things was a very dangerous matter. One could not act on emotions. It wasn't that whoever had a good relationship with Li Mo, Li Mo had to save them. At all times, dealing with Bizarre Things should be the top priority. This was the most correct approach.
Unexpectedly, Li Mo just replied faintly, "You were tricked by the notebook. Dealing with the source of the Bizarre Thing in this world doesn't need the contents of the diary at all."
"It may have used some rhetoric to make you think that as long as you did this, you could solve the Bizarre Thing. In fact, whether you do as it says or not, I can deal with the source of the Bizarre Thing in this world after I wake up. It predicted this point, which is why it was willing to be generously used by you, to let you walk into the trap it carefully set for me."
The first page of the notebook had a strong predictive ability. Therefore, after Li Mo woke up and learned about Shigure Kira's situation, he would definitely find a way to save her. That's why it would say many "sincere and true" words to make Shigure Kira and Saori Tsuruyo do as it said.
"Why would it be like this...?!"
After hearing Li Mo's explanation, the light in Saori Tsuruyo's eyes instantly disappeared. She knelt on the ground, her head bowed, staring at the floor in disbelief, muttering numbly, "I got the captain killed? And I let you walk into the trap set by the notebook..."
"I..."
Saori Tsuruyo's pupils trembled violently, shrinking to the size of a tiny wheat awn.
She had thought that by being careful, she could use the notebook well. However, she had never imagined that in front of the notebook, she was still too naive, kept in the dark without realizing it, thinking that she had obtained the method to save the world, not knowing that she might have destroyed the world that could have been saved.
If Li Mo really walked into the trap carefully set by the notebook, once something unexpected happened, not only would Shigure Kira not be saved, but even the source of the Bizarre Thing could not be dealt with, and everything would turn to dust...
"It's not your fault. Your abilities are limited, and the information you can obtain is too little. It's natural that you would be led by it."
"You can't completely trust any Bizarre item, and I'm no exception."
Back then, the notebook had thrown out a way to live, which was extremely tempting.
It asked him to unconditionally trust the most complete Bizarre Thing he encountered that night. If it weren't for Li Mo choosing to trust himself and not the notebook's prophecy.
There probably wouldn't be the miracle of him waking up now.
Without the human-skin ghost dying in his place, once he listened to the voice behind the wall and stepped over the threshold into the Taoist temple, he would definitely die.
When dealing with Bizzare events, Li Mo only trusted himself.
"Things haven't reached the point of no return yet. I will solve everything."
"You've done a good job."
"I will bring Shigure Kira back safely, and then, alive, solve the source of the Bizarre Thing in this world."
Li Mo took all the Bizarre items on the table: the Bizzare coin, the notebook, the Bizzare pistol, the thermometer.
The rules on the Bizzare coin were still relatively complete. It seemed that Saori Tsuruyo and Shigure Kira had not used it.
Li Mo had thought that Saori Tsuruyo would toss the Bizzare coin to delay Shigure Kira's predetermined death.
Fortunately, Saori Tsuruyo was very insightful and didn't sacrifice the big picture for a temporary reprieve.
If the Bizzare coin was tossed, the drowned ghost would be attracted, but that would only delay the arrival of death.
When the rules on the coin disappeared, Shigure Kira would still be targeted because she had already triggered the certain-death rule. Unless another rule collided with it, Shigure Kira would have to face this certain-death rule.
In that case, not only would Shigure Kira die, but the most precious Bizzare coin would also be lost.
Li Mo turned his back, his calm face showing neither confidence nor fear.
He casually took out his phone and glanced at the time.
8:58 PM. There were less than six minutes before the drowned ghost found Shigure Kira.
The town after the xu hour was very dangerous. Once targeted by countless flesh-and-blood ghosts, it was almost a dead end. Different rules intertwined and overlapped. Just getting close would probably mean death.
Li Mo held the Bizzare coin tightly in his right palm, ready to toss it at any time.
This situation did not allow for any carelessness. After all, this was his last life.
If he were targeted by a group of flesh-and-blood ghosts with unknown rules, Li Mo would not hesitate to toss the Bizarre coin to protect himself.
As for the diary Shigure Kira found...
"Hua, and the Bizarre Hua, you two really are a handful."